face of the mountain, raising a chorus which resounded from crag to crag across
the valley below, and was re-echoed from the sides of Scawfell and the adjoining
heights. The object of our early start now became manifest: the knowing
ones proclaimed that it was a Mart which we were in pursuit of, and that we
were probably close upon it, having no doubt taken it unawares before it had
returned home from its nocturnal rambles. The hunting now commenced in
earnest—no easy galloping over well-kept pastures, no awaiting one’s turn to pass
through a crowded gate or well-worn gap, no convenient check at a pleasant
covert side, but downright hard work, not unaccompanied with the spice of
danger: at one time clambering on hands and feet up a perpendicular precipice,
at another crawling through a narrow crevice between two high boulders; now
running across a sea of stones, which give way at every step and render it
impossible even to think of standing s till; now stepping from ledge to ledge,
and trusting one’s life to the sturdy alpenstock with which each one has armed
himself before setting out. The hounds meantime are clambering up with an
agility which would astonish their relations further south, resembling a party
of squirrels rather than members of the canine race, as they vie with one another
in their anxiety to be to the fore.
‘ About an hour of this sort of work brought us to what was, comparatively
speaking, level ground, and here we for the first time met with a check. The
Mart had considered discretion the better part of valour, and had taken refuge
in a deep crevice in the face of a rock. As the efforts of the terriers were of
no avail, artificial means were now brought into requisition in order to dislodge
the varmint. We all set to work to collect as much grass as the locality afforded;
the huntsman produced from his capacious pockets a box of matches, a little gunpowder,
and an old newspaper, and in a few minutes a fire which consisted of
smoke rather than flame was burning as far down the crevice as the fuel could
be thrust. We had not long to wait. All stood back, and in less than three
minutes a long dark object was seen scampering over the rocks above our heads,
having escaped out of a hole a little distance off. Away we went again, both
hounds and men more excited than ever, leaping from crag to crag, and performing
acrobatic feats from which anyone would have shrunk in cold blood.
The ground now became of a rather less difficult nature, and we were able,
without imminent danger of destruction, to take a glance at the surrounding
scenery. The rising sun had dispelled the mist, and the atmosphere had by
this time become quite clear, though a few clouds hung on the summit of the